Tag Archives: LegacyCircle

Legacy Circle and Funds Update

Legacy Circle and Funds Update By Charmen Goehring

Welcome to our newest Legacy Circle Members!!

I am pleased to welcome Liz Jordan and Donna Holmes to the AAUW Legacy Circle! Both have made the commitment to provide for AAUW in their estates to help ensure our organization is healthy and nimble in the future! Sacramento is now leading all CA branches in the number of Legacy Circle members in our midst.

If you have been a member of AAUW for a long time or if you are passionate about our mission of equity for all women and girls, consider joining the Legacy Circle. There are many ways you can include AAUW in your estate planning/will and no money is required now. There is a simple form online to print and mail or email  — it takes just a few minutes of your time! Contact Charmen at charminme@yahoo.com for more information.

AAUW Sacramento also experienced a year of generosity when it came to contributions to the AAUW Greatest Needs Fund and others. Our members and branch collectively sent more than $13,000!! Many members make regular donations which are easy to set up online. This is an amazing show of support and love for the work that we do in AAUW. Thank you!!!!

You and AAUW

Use Your IRA for Charitable Donations By Charmen Goehring

If you have not completed your Required Minimum Distribution (RMD) for 2021, because you have nowhere to spend it, consider giving it to charity.

Donating to charity from your IRA generally results in a tax benefit. Normally, distributions from an IRA are taxed. However, an individual who is age 70 ½ or older may donate to a qualified charity (has Sec. 501(c)(3) status such as AAUW Funds or Tech Trek) and not pay tax on the distribution. The donation must be paid directly from the IRA to the charity (the check drawn on the IRA must be payable to the charity). Even better, the distribution can be counted as part of your required minimum distribution (RMD).

For example, Hilda wants to donate $1,000 to AAUW.

If Hilda withdraws the $1,000 and then writes a check to AAUW, she will pay tax on the $1,000. Assuming that the tax is $200, that will leave her $800 to donate.

Before recent tax law changes, Hilda could offset the tax on the distribution by claiming an itemized deduction for the donation. However, under current tax rules, most people do not itemize deductions because the standard deduction is higher.

If instead, Hilda directs her IRA to send a $1,000 donation to AAUW, the distribution is not taxed, and the charity gets $1,000.

Please consult your tax adviser to determine if this strategy works for you.

AAUW Legacy Circle By Charmen Goehring

You are invited to join the AAUW Legacy Circle, a wonderful community of likeminded supporters who have made equity a central part of their legacies through planned giving. Planned gifts, also known as legacy gifts, offer some of the most innovative and meaningful ways to give back and ensure a better future for women, girls and their communities. Affirm your commitment to AAUW through a planned gift to AAUW National today. Together we’re making a lasting impact to ensure a better future for girls and women!

Benefits of Planned Giving

  • Planned gifts, also known as legacy gifts or bequests, allow you the flexibility to provide for your family and support AAUW at the same time.
  • Planned gifts need not affect your cash flow during your lifetime; some legacy gifts are designed to also give back, providing steady income for you and your loved ones for life.
  • Certain planned gifts may reduce or even eliminate estate or capital gains taxes.
  • There is no minimum gift amount, and every gift can be tailored to suit your needs.

Become a visionary member of the AAUW Legacy Circle! To learn more, please visit AAUW.ORG/Legacy.
Or request a brochure or ask us a question by contacting Heather Miller, Director of Advancement, at: 202-785-7766 or millerh@aauw.org. Charmen Goehring  of the AAUW Legacy Circle Team is also available to assist you and may be reached by email at charminme@yahoo.com.

AAUW Funds & Living Our Mission of Equity

AAUW Funds By Charmen Goehring

October was a month full of AAUW Funds activities. Members in California enjoyed two online Funds events, previously the Funds Luncheons, each of which highlighted many CA-based recipients of AAUW grants and fellowships.

Their topics of study were diverse and fascinating! While we again missed the in-person opportunity to see friends and meet the recipients, dozens of members who might not otherwise have attended a lunch in the past were able to participate on Zoom. It is always inspiring to see how our contributions have provided support for these young women, some of whom might change the world! There will be one more opportunity to enjoy presentations by a few of our wonderful recipients during the final event on Nov. 7. You can register to attend at www.aauw-ca.org.

Many thanks to those members who consistently send in donations to the AAUW Funds throughout the year via the AAUW website. This is an easy and convenient way to provide funding for our wonderful organization and its programs!

As always, I wish to encourage you to consider honoring your passion for AAUW by joining the Legacy Circle. The Legacy Circle is composed of dedicated AAUW members who have included AAUW in their estates in order to ensure the organization is healthy and able to help women and girls far into the future. If you have been a member of AAUW for 30 years or more, you are passionate about AAUW. Why not take the simple step of joining the Legacy Circle? You can join online at www.aauw.org or contact Charmen for a brochure.

AAUW Sacramento is close to becoming the CA branch with the most Legacy Circle members!!

Living Our Mission of Equity Book Discussion By Charmen Goehring

We hope you will join us in a monthly equity conversation looking at our own biases, and what actions we can take to attract diversity to our branch and become better people in the process. Each month, we read a section of our selected book and then meet to discuss what we have learned, along with exploring other issues related to race and equity. We meet the second Wednesday of each month from 7 to 8 p.m. on Zoom. This is a joint CHAR/Sacramento activity.

The Zoom meeting code is 737 420 3780, or you can join using this link:  https://us02web.zoom.us/j/7374203780

We will be discussing the second half of “You Are Your Best Thing” on Nov. 10 at 7 p.m. If you have questions and to RSVP, please email Charmen. Charmen’s contact information can be found in the branch Membership Directory.

AAUW Sacramento Funds & Legacy Circle

AAUW Sacramento Funds & Legacy Circle By  Charmen Goehring

AAUW Sacramento members continue to generously support the AAUW Fund. This is a suite of funds including the Greatest Needs Fund, the Leadership Fund, the Governance and Sustainability Fund, Economic Security Fund and the Education and Training Fund. You can either send a check to our branch, designating where you would like your contribution to go, or safely online via the AAUW website.

Another opportunity to support AAUW and our mission of working to advance gender equity for women and girls is to become a member of the Legacy Circle. There are many ways to recognize AAUW in your estate and the form to join online takes 2 minutes to fill out. I can also send you a hard copy form if you choose. AAUW Sacramento added several new Legacy Circle members last year, giving us the second highest number, behind the AAUW CA Online Branch!!

Please contact Charmen Goehring (charminme@yahoo.com or 207-756-0406) for more information on either contributing to Funds or joining the Legacy Circle.

Funds Update

Funds Update By Charmen Goehring

Do you remember the statewide Legacy Circle contest that ends June 30? AAUW Sacramento is close to winning!! If you have been thinking about remembering AAUW in your estate, this would be a great time to make that commitment and join the Legacy Circle! Call me if you have questions, or find a brochure on aauw.org.

Between January and May, our branch has contributed more than $2,700 to the AAUW Funds. Thank you to each of you who has made a donation. The majority of those monies went to the Greatest Needs Fund, which allows AAUW the maximum in flexibility to address needs as they arise, as well as fund the majority of our signature projects and staff. Please consider a gift to AAUW’s Greatest Needs Fund today!

Funds Update, Legacy Circle, and Living Our Mission of Equity

AAUW Sacramento Funds Update By Charmen Goehring

Many thanks to those of you who send in regular gifts to AAUW to help our beloved organization advance our mission of gender equity. Making a regular monthly gift that is automatically withdrawn from your account is very easy to set up online. No more remembering to write the check! I love how easy it makes it to give on a regular basis, and it also allows AAUW to plan for the contributions.

I was talking the other day to an AAUW friend, who is on the state board, about the Legacy Circle. She revealed to me that she thought one needed to have a healthy bank account in order to become a member. I thought that if she has this assumption, others might as well. The answer is, no, you do not need to be well off to be a Legacy Circle member! A Legacy gift is not something you give during your lifetime — it is given by your estate. There are many ways to leave a gift, including making AAUW a beneficiary on an insurance policy or annuity (this is what I have done), donating a set sum or a percentage of your estate, creating a charitable gift annuity, or even creating a COD account at your bank (You deposit money now, either one time, or several deposits, and it is payable to AAUW upon your death). Knowing that I am a part of helping secure the future of AAUW, an organization that I have contributed my time and talents to for 28 years now, makes me feel proud.

I would love to welcome more AAUW Sacramento members to the Legacy Circle. Please reach out to me for more information! Or go right to the AAUW website to enroll!

Living Our Mission of Equity By Charmen Goehring

We invite you to join us in a monthly equity conversation looking at our own biases and what

Charmen Goehring

actions we can take to attract diversity to our branch and become better people in the process. We are reading the book “Caste: The Origins of Our Discontents” by Isabel Wilkerson and discussing what we have read, along with exploring other issues related to race and equity. We meet the second Wednesday of each month from 7 to 8 p.m. on Zoom.

The Zoom meeting code is 737 420 3780 or you can join using this link:  https://us02web.zoom.us/j/7374203780.

We will discuss Part 3 on May 12 at 7 p.m. If you have questions and to RSVP, please email Charmen at charminme@yahoo.com.

Update on Funds, Legacy Circle, AAUW CA Annual Meeting

Update on Funds, Legacy Circle, AAUW CA Annual Meeting By Charmen Goehring

Although I had planned to host a silent auction to benefit the Greatest Needs Funds in April, I

Charmen Goehring

have yet to hear from anyone expressing interest in participating. Generally, we have benefited from a small auction in January at the annual Interbranch Council luncheon — we did not have that opportunity this year with the event on Zoom. I am looking for members to donate items. (It can be a service offered, physical item or specialty — for example, I just won a bid for three months of oranges delivered to my house next winter in another auction.) I just need a picture or two of the offering and a sentence or two describing it. If we have sufficient interest, we will run the online auction in May.  Please contact Charmen Goehring for more information.

Legacy Circle

I would also like to congratulate and thank Ruth Werner for making the decision to join the Legacy Circle. By pledging to leave a gift to AAUW, Ruth is living her values and dedication to equity for women and girls. If you would like to follow Ruth’s example and join the other Sacramento members who have already made plans to support AAUW’s mission into the future, click here or visit https://www.aauw.org/resources/member/support-aauw/leave-a-legacy/ or contact Charmen Goehring.

AAUW CA Annual Meeting  – April 17, 2021, 9:30am-1:00pm

From the comfort of your home, come hear how AAUW CA and its branches fared during the past year!

Named Gift Awardees and Activity of the Year will be announced, Senator Hannah-Beth Jackson will be honored for her many years of support, and we will receive an update from National Board Chair Julia Brown. The Speech Trek finalist videos will be shown and the winner named. Jo Harberson’s daughter will announce her final gift and share some words on what AAUW meant to her mother. Legacy Circle members will be recognized (including those in the Sacramento branch!) and we will meet the candidates running for the State Board next month. The event will wrap up with a special treat — the play “We Did It For You”, directed by past State President Cathy Foxhoven.

Register to attend the online event at aauw-ca.org. For more information, contact Charmen Goehring.

 

AAUW Fund: Spring Silent Auction

AAUW Fund March 2021 By Charmen Goehring-Fox

In lieu of the silent auction at the January IBC meeting, I am pleased to announce that we will hold our own Spring Silent Auction in April for the AAUW Fund! We will use an easy online platform called 32Auctions that will showcase our items, take your bids and update you when you have been outbid. Payment for items you won will be via check or online.

We are looking for items to be donated — from gift cards to fun items you would like to rehome to services offered to vacation home weekends. Please send a picture of the item or items you would like to donate to Charmen along with an estimated value. You and the winning bidder will coordinate pick-up/delivery of items after the auction is over and the lots are paid.

I would also like to announce that the Sacramento branch has another new member of the   Legacy Circle — Karen Burley! She joins a group of more than 650 members nationwide who have committed to leaving AAUW a piece of their estate. One does not have to name an amount now nor do you need to have great wealth. Every amount shows your support and commitment to AAUW! There are many ways you can do this, and the process is very easy. By leaving a legacy gift, you help to ensure that AAUW is able to fight on behalf of women and girls for years to come. You can get more information at www.aauw.org or give Charmen Goehring a call!